Among users of pick up trucks and other vehicles with a truck bed, there is often a need for a simple, inexpensive ramp and/or truck bed extender, free from mechanical difficulties. The transportation of long, heavy items, such as motorcycles and wooden beams, is common for users of pick up trucks and vehicles with truck beds. Therefore, a retractable ramp and/or truck bed extender that is operable by a single person is beneficial for users who desire to transport heavy articles or articles having a length greater than the truck bed. Moreover, it is desirable to minimize the modifications necessary to provide a pick up truck or related vehicle with the ramp or truck bed extender.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,170 issued to Noble, and entitled: “Loading Ramp for Pick-Up Trucks and the Like” discloses a raised platform in a complex design comprising fixed tracks, movable tracks, a gang plank and rollers. Noble's movable tracks provide a continuous horizontal trackway from the front end of the ramp storage compartment to the rear edge of an opened tailgate. Both Noble's ramp and movable tracks can be retracted far enough so that both the ramp door at the rear end of the raised platform assembly, and the tailgate, may be closed to preserve the exterior appearance of the pick-up truck. The Noble disclosure does not, however, describe a ramp that is particularly easy to use and simple to implement and install. The Noble disclosure seems to pick up trucks, station wagons, etc.
Further, previous approaches include loading ramps which extend rearwardly and downwardly from the rear edge of the pick up truck body such that items with greater length, such as a motorcycle, can be easily loaded. These solutions also provide a walkway to provide access to the pick up truck body. However, these solutions do not provide a retractable ramp and truck bed extender that can be stored within the confines of the truck bed when not in use. In addition, these approaches do not provide simple and easy to use mechanisms that are meant for release to the mainstream pick up truck user.
Additionally, in the use of many vehicles, particularly a smaller vehicle such as a pick up truck, it is normally not convenient to transport a ramp for use. Thus, it would be desirable to have a convenient means for transporting a ramp for use with a vehicle such as a truck or pick up truck. Also, when using vehicles to transport heavy loads, it is often desirable to transport objects that extend beyond the normal tail gate length and which cannot be adequately supported because they extend beyond the end of the tail gate. Thus, it would be useful to have a means for supporting loads which extend beyond the normal tail gate of a truck or similar vehicle.
While the foregoing prior art recognize the need for simple and easy to use systems for loading and placing materials onto a truck bed, the proposed solutions set forth complex and costly systems. Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a more efficient system for assisting the loading and placement of materials onto a truck bed via a tail gate.